Just prior to Toy Fair in February, rumors of a new Batman toy line started to emerge. Then the week before Toy Fair Warner Brothers confirmed the line in a single sentence in a press release describing what they would be showcasing at the annual trade show:

Mattel also plans to introduce the evergreen Batman Power Attack™ line that is designed to maintain the super hero’s momentum this year, and beyond.

There were small images of two deluxe figures and a batmobile included with the press release, but other than that there was no further information. Then a few other images of figures from the line popped up on a few online retail sites. But there were not very many answers to the questions that fans were asking about this line. What scale was it? What characters would be in the line-ups? What media is it tied to?

When Toy Fair wrapped the questions were left unanswered as none of the ‘Batman: Power Attack’ product was on display for the collector press at Toy Fair, although a couple of sites were able to grab a few hasty shots of the display that was behind closed doors.

Last week on my visit to the new DC Entertainment offices in Burbank I was able to pick up a couple of early samples of this new ‘Batman: Power Attack’ line. I picked up the basic blue and gray “Twin Blades” Batman and this figure- “Swamp Raider Killer Croc”. Mattel, created this new Batman line in-house and it is not tied to any content or media. Mattel partnered with Warner Brothers to deliver a fun new Batman for kids that is called, in the industry, an “evergreen” line; which means that it can exist without any other media tie-in or story line. The timing is meant to tie into the summer Bat-craze that always comes along in a Batman movie year. ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ is not yet rated but will most likely be a PG-13 movie like it’s predecessor so young kids will not be seeing it. Mattel was smart to create an alternative line that can cater to the younger fans.

This is clearly a line for kids that would bridge the gap between the Imaginext line and DC Universe Classics and/or DC All Stars. These are roughly a 5″ scale. Smaller than DCUC but bigger than Mattel’s “The Batman” line. They are closer in scale to Batman The Brave and the Bold (without the trademark holes used to snap on armor and accessories).

The figures are fairly stylized in their deco and their sculpt. The sculpts are very angular with oversized hands and feet. They sport articulation at the neck, shoulders, elbows, waist and hips.

The waves looks to run about 4-5 characters per wave, with most of the figures in a wave being made up Batman variants. It also looks like each wave will tie into a made-up story line such as Two-Face harnessing the power of a volcano or Killer Croc haunting the swamps. As you can see from the card backs in the first 2 waves we will be getting Batman (and many variants), Killer Croc, Robin and Two-Face.

This line is being run by Mattel’s newly formed boy’s toys retail group and, as I mentioned, this is intended as a kids line. While collectors are free to enjoy the line they should take it for what it is, a fun, stylized Batman line that will be heavy on Batman variants and will most likely not have the depth of character they are used to with the Mattel collector lines. It’s just the sort of line that an 8 year old kid would love. This line should be in stores in the next few weeks.

This figure is “Swamp Raider Killer Croc.” This version of Croc is very lizard-like and includes a tail. He’s wearing pants and a big metallic belt. The Croc from “The Batman” line was only wearing a vest with no pants. He has some sculpted armor plating on his neck and shoulder and a metal jaw. The jaw is a separate piece, but it is not articulated. It’s made of soft ABS plastic so it is bendy but not a point of articulation. He has the same articulation as the Batman figure – neck, shoulders, elbows, waist and hips and does not come with an accessories. He ships in package with his tail detached, so if tail-less Croc is more your speed you don’t have to attach it (but he will have a hole in the back of his pants.

Daniel “Julius Marx” Pickett has been around toys his whole life. The first line he ever collected was Mego’s World’s Greatest Super Heroes line back in the 70s. He has been surrounded by collectables ever since.
In 1999 he was confounded by a lack of information and news about some of his favorite toy lines he was collecting. Since he couldn’t find the information he decided to pursue it himself thinking other people might also be interested in the same news. He started writing a weekly column on the toy industry and action figure for a toy news site and in a years time he tripled the sites daily traffic with his updates, reviews and product features.
He built relationships with every major toy manufacturer and many sculptors, painters and mold makers. He grew his hobby into a world wide expertise that the industry has embraced.
In 2004 he teamed up with his toy buddy Jason “ToyOtter” Geyer and they created their own website www.ActionFigureInsider.com.
Daniel has been quoted in both industry and mass media press outlets. Over the years Daniel and AFi have been sought out as experts in the field. Daniel was regularly featured on “Attack of the Show” on the G4 network as the primary contributor to their “Mint On Card” segment, and our front page has been linked to from USA Today’s
“Pop Candy” Blog twice. Daniel’s content has also been featured on MSNBC.com,
Wired.com, Fark.com, Boing-Boing, Gizmodo.com, Ain’t It Cool News, the Official
Star Wars blog, Geekologie, G4, CNet and Toy Fare magazine, among many
others. He has consulted on toy lines, books, documentaries and TV shows.
But all of that really just sounds snooty and “tootin’ his own horn” – the long and short of it is that Daniel loves toys and he LOVES talking about them.